Meet the Author

The FermentedlyChallenged blog has been retired since the end of October 2016. It has been a great 9 year run. Thanks to all the readers and brewery staff for all your support in the past. I'm living in the Denver metro area and working in the Cable TV industry now. Cheers and enjoy beer responsibly. Follow along on social media - @ChipperDave on Twitter and on Facebook.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

New Belgium is about to get even bigger as it announced on July 7th that it plans to break ground on a new 16,000 square foot can line addition at their Fort Collins brewery.

Once in place, New Belgium's canning volume capacity will expand nearly six fold.

According to a press release, "Cans have been a great addition to the packaging portfolio for us," says Bryan Simpson of NBB. "We first introduced Fat Tire cans in 2008 and we've since added Sunshine Wheat and Ranger IPA. Sales have been ahead of projection and we're fortunate to be able to accommodate demand."

The new can line expansion means instead of filling 60 cans per minute, New Belgium will be able to do 360 cans per minute in either 12oz or 16oz size.The new addition will be located just east of New Belgium's current bottling facility on their 50-acre campus in Fort Collins, Colorado. New Belgium expects to start using the new canning line as early as February 2012.

I see this as a positive move for New Belgium. It may open up the possibility to seeing even more of their brands in cans. I'd love to see 1554 or even La Folie in a can. Perhaps even a Lips of Faith beer in a can. How sweet would that be?

Which New Belgium beer would you like to see canned? Post your favorite in a comment below.